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Textbook prices rising, says higher-ed council(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) BLACKSBURG, Va., Aug 25, 2006 (The Collegiate Times, U-WIRE via COMTEX) --Textbook prices are continuing to rise according to a recent study by the State Council of Higher Education. According to SCHEV's student survey, "students who purchased textbooks in Spring 2005 paid, on average, just under $300, while Fall 2005 students paid, on average, between $300 and $400. Further, the number of students who paid $500 or more on textbooks increased by almost 8 percent in Fall 2005 over Spring 2005." Jerry Diffel, Virgnia Tech Bookstore manager, has worked on battling textbook prices for years in response to student needs. "Students have been complaining for years," he said. "The prices just keep going up, up, up. Trying to keep book prices low is very difficult these days." Diffel's strategy involves buying back as many used books as he can at the end of each semester and encouraging faculty members to readopt the same books that they have used in the past. "Publishers raise prices every semester, if I have enough in stock, I won't raise the price," Diffel said. "I am not going to raise the price if I don't have to go out and buy books from the source. That's why we appear cheaper; because other bookstores have to go out and buy other books from the publisher." Tech Bookstore is owned by the Nebraska Book Co., which is the largest used book company in the nation. Diffel sends books that are not being used at Tech anymore to the warehouse and buys used books from other universities that are needed to keep stocked on used titles. According to Diffel, textbook prices are rising because publishing companies have monopolies on certain titles. "Competition is what keep prices affordable," he said. "But publishers have copy writes on their materials, and that's why prices stay high. Each publisher has a monopoly on the titles." While the strategy is effective, it will not always work. "Usually there is no choice most of the time to get books that professors request other than going straight to the publisher, then they can charge anything," he said. Tech students are also complaining about high textbook prices. "I end up spending more and more on textbooks each year," said Min-Ji Lee, junior biology major. "I think the university should find a way to bring prices down." "I feel like books are fairly priced only because I am a political science student and get to buy cheap books," said Albert Bjork, junior political science major. "The only downside is that I have to buy about five books a class. Even though it's my parents money I still get my books used so that I can save cash." Some companies are finding alternative methods to save students money -- making textbooks free. Freeload Press, Inc. claims to "liberate the textbook" by formatting textbooks into PDF files and placing advertising into the books to bring cost down. The company started in September 2004 and publishes and distributes their own line of textbooks and other publisher's textbooks, said Tim Doran, CEO of Freeload Press, Inc. The idea to start the company came when textbook prices started to rise and the use of the Internet for academics became common. The company brainstormed what would make textbooks cheaper. "We did a survey of college instructors and the feedback was pretty compelling, so we realized we might be on to something," Doran said. "The first 1,000 instructors gave us an 83 percent approval rating of the idea." Dolan said the hurdle was 35 percent, so the results were overwhelming. When asked if the ads would be too distracting, Doran said they have not gotten any complaints because the ads appear only in the natural breaks in the textbooks. However, one student is still concerned with reading a textbook from the computer. "It sounds like a great idea, but I don't think I could stand staring at a computer screen for so long," said Trang Nguyen, junior biology major. In fact, the only complaints that Freeload Press, Inc. has gotten are that they do not have enough textbooks for students to use. Right now, there are 100 textbooks to use and over 130 schools are taking the opportunity, Doran said. However, over 500 schools are registered to review their materials. Freeload Press, Inc. textbooks are available for free as e-books or for 60 percent off in paperback. Students can fill out a survey and register to use the books online and publishers can register their books through the company, Doran said. Doran is hoping to revolutionize the textbook industry. "We're trying to just bring the prices down by providing an alternative distribution method," he said. "Change the price by driving the prices down." Copyright (C) 2006 The Collegiate Times via U-WIRE |